Hi everyone,
I’m writing this ahead of the Next Door Dinner we’re cooking for Tuesday night at Guild Row. I hope you all were able to grab tickets (it sold out!) It’s been a busy weekend putting everything together but a lot of fun. We don’t often get to take the veggies all the way to completed dishes for large groups, and while we love prepping the veggies for CSA Club, being able to serve people a meal is deeply gratifying.
We’re at the second to last share for the season, and the weather is acting accordingly. With frosts in the forecast this week, the growing season is finally at an end. It’s been a long one, with lots of ups and downs. We had things like corn at a record early harvest, but substantial rains in July really put a damper on the peppers this year. Lisa and I were looking back at some of the instagram stories we had posted earlier in the season reminiscing on fava beans, strawberries, and caulilini. We’ll be sure to put together a little highlight reel to share with you all.
The consequence of being busy with Next Door Dinner (as well as with a couple other things) is that we haven’t quite been able to put together a plan for Soup Club yet. We may get around to having something more structured, but to be honest, it might just be an ad hoc thing if/when we find the time, ambition, and veggies to use up this fall. It’s been an amazing season so far, and I can’t put in words the gratitude that we have for you all joining us for it. We hope you all enjoy the share!
-Ben
This is some nice broad leaf lettuce, great for sandwiches. The non-bitter varieties that would include this lettuce have been under cultivations and improvement for 5,000 years, even being represented in ancient Egyptian art.
These are also known as Tropea onions. Another reappearance as we had them in the fourth share of the season. Their long shape makes them pretty easy to cut, and they have a prominent flavor almost similar to shallot.
From On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee:
“People have eaten this plant since prehistory, initially its leaves, then the underground part of specialized varieties. In Greek times beet roots were long, either white or red, and sweet; Theophrastus reported around 300 BCE that they were pleasant enough to eat raw. The fat red type is first depicted in the 16th century.”
We had parsnips in the shares back in September. They can sometimes be a little bitter, so we recommend peeling the skin before roasting, or make it into a puree like in this recipe (if you’re a dairy eater, cream or milk will help mellow the bitterness as well).
We had bell peppers in the last share, and I mentioned that it would likely be the last of the season. I am much more confidence that these are finally the last. Bell peppers have been the one variety of peppers that Nichols was able to salvage this year as the rest of the varieties that normally fill the shares did not far so well due to the rain we experienced in July. We are grateful for these peppers nonetheless.
Eggplant is part of the nightshade family (tomatoes, peppers, and even tobacco). Interestingly though, it’s the only nightshade to have been domesticated in the outside of the Americas.
Developed by the University of Minnesota, honeygolds were breed to be an alternative to Golden Delicious that is suitable for colder climates. They have yellow to golden red skins with creamy flesh that has subtle notes of pear.
When writing these blurbs, I usually do a bit of research. One of my favorite resources for apple varieties has become this website, Apple Rankings. Created by comedian, Brian Frange, the reviews are some of the most entertaining out there.
Winter squash are members of the squash family (cucumber, melon, zucchini, pumpkin, etc.). They have a tough dry skin, and are more starchy than summer squash or melon making them great a storage crop. They were domesticated in the Americas ~5000 BCE and can be used in a number of sweet or savory applications: custards, pies, soups, stews, or simply roasted as a side.
Fresh ginger isn’t something you’ve likely seen at the grocery store. It doesn’t have the brown papery skin typical to cured ginger. This makes it easy to peel, simply scrap off with a spoon.
Japanese sweet potato from the outside look like the Carolina Rubies that we had a few shares back, but their flesh is a pale white. Fluffy, and sweet these are pretty tasty just baked, or use anywhere you would any other sweet potato.
